The young immigrunts

In Short

Ring Lardner’s The Young Immigrunts is a humorous 1920 fictionalized account of a family driving an automobile across the Midwest and East Coast to relocate to a new home. Written from the perspective of a sharp-eared four-year-old named Bill, the story chronicles wrong turns, rainy weather, mechanical delays, and domestic bickering. It has lasted as a classic of American wit for its pitch-perfect parody of childish narration, deadpan satire of adult pretension, and early mastery of vernacular humor.

The Story

The narrative begins in Chicago and Goshen, Indiana, where the narrator's parents make plans to move east to Connecticut, leaving the children temporarily in the care of a nurse. Once the father purchases a new car to drive east with costly baggage and young Bill, the journey gets underway. Their initial ambition to reach Detroit is complicated by a detour to Ann Arbor where they visit the football coach, leading to a late-night arrival at relatives' homes. From Detroit, the family boards a lake steamer to Buffalo, observing fellow passengers like a newlywed couple heading to Niagara Falls.

Once off the boat, the family sets out toward Rochester and Syracuse, but the father insists on taking a shortcut through Lyons instead of the main road. This decision results in a disastrous delay against a blocked freight train and forces them to retrace their route by detour. Heavy rain and dreary weather accompany them through Utica, Little Falls, and Albany, punctuated by encounters with old acquaintances and unhelpful policemen. In Hudson, they struggle to find lodging, deal with a noisy night, and encounter an itinerant sailor who gets kicked out before morning.

Continuing south through Rhinebeck, Poughkeepsie, and Peekskill, the father shares a steady stream of local trivia while the mother grows increasingly weary. Upon reaching Manhattan, the mother and older children are deposited at a train station to wait for the delayed train from the west, while the father and Bill drive ahead toward Greenwich, Connecticut. After getting momentarily lost near New Rochelle, father and son finally reach the station in Greenwich. They meet the rest of the family as they arrive by train, concluding the trip with typical family arguments and a final maternal verdict that young Bill was a very good boy.

How It Unfolds

• Starting Gaily: The family leaves Goshen in a new car while the nurse and older brothers take the train, leading to an unplanned detour through Ann Arbor and a late-night stop in Detroit.
• Erie Lake: The travelers board a steamer to Buffalo, where they watch newlyweds discuss the time and weather with monotonous repetition.
• My Father's Idear: Seeking a shortcut between Rochester and Syracuse, the father chooses a minor road that ends in front of a stagnant freight train and forces a frustrating backtrack.
• Syracuse to Hudson: A cold, rainy drive brings encounters with old acquaintances in Utica and a miserable night of restless lodging in Hudson.
• Hudson to Yonkers: The journey resumes through Poughkeepsie and Ossining, with the father offering running commentary on local sights before reaching the outskirts of New York.
• The Bureau of Manhattan: The parents divide forces in the city, sending the mother and brothers to a railway station while father and son drive on toward Greenwich.
• How It Ended: The family reunites at the Greenwich station amid tired bickering, mutual accusations of crying, and a final reassurance that Bill behaved well.

The People

The narrator, Bill, is a sharp four-year-old who absorbs adult conversations literally and reports domestic tensions without filtering them. He wants to understand the world around him, but stands in the way are his own small stature and his parents' constant bickering. He ends the trip unscathed and praised as a good boy.

My Father is depicted as a short-tempered, self-confident sportsman who fancies himself an expert driver and a master of local trivia. He wants to prove his competence and save time with clever shortcuts, but stands in the way are wrong turns, impassable roads, and relentless rain. He ends up flustered, frequently corrected by detours, and snapping at his family.

My Mother is practical, easily exasperated, and prone to puncturing her husband's grand ideas with pointed remarks and coughs. She wants an orderly, comfortable migration east, but stands in the way are travel delays, crying children, and her husband's erratic navigation. She ends the trip exhausted and triumphant in her criticisms.

The Nurse manages the older brothers on the train and bears the brunt of the domestic chaos with a series of ghastly looks and tired smiles.

Uncle Bill, Coach Yost, and various local policemen and innkeepers populate the route, offering deadpan resistance to the family's erratic progress.

In Its Own Voice

Everybody says I have his eyes and I am glad it didnt half to be something else tho Rollie Zeider the ball player calls him owl eyes for a nick name but if I was Rollie Zeider and his nose I wouldnt pick on somebodys else features.

This sets the tone in the opening chapter by establishing the narrator's sharp, observant voice and his casual dismissal of his father's appearance.

The least said about the results of my fathers grate idear the soonest mended in a word it turned out to be a holycost of the first water as after we had covered miles and miles of ribald roads we suddenly come to a abrupt conclusion vs the side of a stagnant freight train that was stone deef to honks.

This captures the mock-heroic style used to describe the disastrous shortcut that derails the driving schedule.

If Falls is a verb he said the man that baptized this town was a practicle joker.

This exemplifies the father's dry, sarcastic wit as the family arrives in Little Falls during a downpour.

What It's Really About

The book explores the gap between domestic aspiration and the stubborn reality of early motoring. Beneath the surface of a simple family road trip lies a satire of American hubris—specifically the archetype of the self-reliant male traveler who refuses to admit error. Lardner examines how families negotiate stress, boredom, and shared irritation in confined spaces. The narrative questions the reliability of adult authority, contrasting the father's pretensions of omniscience with the literal-minded honesty of a child who records every stumble, wrong turn, and petty argument.

Why Read It Today

Readers who love deadpan humor, concise satire, and mid-century vernacular will find this book a delight. Reading it feels like listening to a mischievous child recount an adult disaster with absolute, deadpan sincerity; the humor comes entirely from the disparity between the grandiose language used and the petty reality described. Modern readers should be prepared for period conventions, including the stylized phonetic spelling intended to mimic a child's early writing, which requires a little patience to decode. Yet the core experience—the universal absurdity of family road trips, complete with wrong turns, backseat squabbles, and unhelpful directions—remains remarkably fresh and funny a century later.